Combustors used in gas turbine engines, such as aircraft engines, conventionally include sheet metal combustion liners and sheet metal combustion dome assemblies. The combustion liners include coannular outer and inner combustion liners joined at their upstream ends by an annular dome for defining therein an annular combustion dome. The dome includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced carburetors or fuel cup assemblies for providing a fuel/air mixture into the combustor which is conventionally ignited for generating combustion gases. The combustor is supplied with compressed airflow from the compressor upstream thereof.
A conventional combustor carburetor is exemplified by the showing of R. E. Stenger, E. E. Ekstedt, and S. P. Seto U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,974 entitled Combustor Dome Sleeve, issued Jan. 1, 1980, and assigned to the assignee of the present application. The teaching of this patent is specifically intended to be incorporated herein by reference for enabling one skilled in the art to understand the present invention without the disclosure of extraneous material. Such conventional combustor carburetor includes a fuel injector, a venturi, a primary and a secondary swirler and a separate sleeve and splash plate which is closely spaced from a dome. The individual functions of such conventional elements are known to the expert in the art and have been documented widely in addition to the above referenced patent.
It is also well-known to arrange the carburetor devices in cylindrical can-type, or single or double dome annular combustors.